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Why I’m bailing on affiliate sales

Some of you may have noticed that my affiliate links from Amazon are no longer around. Here’s an explanation. If you’re new to the blogging game, give this a thorough read.

There’s quite a few bloggers out there that make money with affiliate sales. Pat Flynn and Michelle come to mind. And they’ve made a ton of money. Other lesser known bloggers are advocates and claim they make a decent income off of affiliate sales.

I’m not one of those people. On this blog, the only affiliate I was connected with was Amazon. At the newbie blogger, I’m set up with bluehost and studiopress through sharasale. Of the three affiliates, I’ve brought in $0 and there’s multiple reasons why.

1. I’m not a salesman

I’ve never been in sales as a professional. That probably matters. I don’t even know how to sell shit.

2. I don’t want to sell anything

The only reason I signed up for affiliate marketing is it’s what I thought I was supposed to do. Everyone else is doing it. I should probably be doing it. Well, piss on that. I’m going to do what I want. The purpose of this blog is to help my readers save money or stop spending entirely on certain things that they don’t need. So trying to sell anyone anything at all seems counterproductive to my end-game.

What about ads?

The ads I’m going to keep. They don’t really bother me all that much. They’re easy to set-up and use. I don’t think they’re too big of a distraction to my readers, either. It’s also really obvious that they’re an ad. I don’t feel quite as sleazy because I don’t feel obligated to pimp them and post an FTC required disclaimer for using them. Speaking of which:

So what’s the plan now?

I’m going to keep writing this blog with ads only. Blogging is awesome. I love it. But it costs money to maintain and the start-up costs were pricey, so I want to at the very least break even so that I can continue doing it.

There are plenty of money making opportunities out there. However, because I’m still new to the blogging game, they’re likely not going to present themselves until after I’ve paid my dues, so to speak.

What I’m talking about are mainly freelancing opportunites. The longer the blog and myself are visible on the web, the better my portfolio is going to look. I’ll become a name that matters. And that’s a good thing. In July, the blog will be six months old and I think that’s right around the time that I’ll start to push myself as a freelance writer and editor.

I’m done doing what everyone else is doing. At least for the most part. When I first started blogging, “they” said that most bloggers don’t even reach the six month mark. It sounded like horseshit to me, but I’ve already seen some of the folks in my “class” start to abandon their blogs. This is kind of sad and disheartening, but I guess “they” are right about some things.

The newbie blogger is another site that I own. Bloggers like to blog about blogging. How to start a blog, why start one, how to make money, etc…

There are reasons that these people stray from their usual niche and content to bring you this information. One of the reasons is that blogging is awesome. It’s a shitty way for most people to make money, but it’s an amazing creative outlet, especially for introverts like myself. Another reason is that webhosting companies pay their affiliates very well.

Personally, I decided to make another site for this purpose as to not distract my readers from the meat and taters content. I mean, that’s why you guys are here, right? You want to know how to save dat money. How to cut back. How it can make you happier in both the short run and the long term. Telling you how to make money as a blogger isn’t the likely reason that you’ve come here.

Building the newbie blogger was a wonderful learning experience and it is just as much a part of this journey as WAPH. It required research and provides me with another piece for my portfolio, which at this point, I need. However, the combination of my distaste for affiliate marketing as well as low traffic numbers means that the newbie blogger is likely not going to see a second birthday. The initial thought kind of bothered me, but the more I think about it, the more it seems like the right move.

We’re All Poor Here has been my baby from the get-go and it is off to a great start. The traffic is on the rise, the support from the blogging community has been great. I have no real complaints as far as that goes. The more I start to mold this blog into what I want, the happier I am to sit at my laptop and write every day.

Conclusion

Working on and worrying about affiliate income was only slowing me down. Given the speed of life, anything that’s slowing you down needs to go. And that’s for anything that you’re doing. If you’ve got a part-time or full-time job that is doing nothing but slowing you down, crushing your dreams, and sucking the vitality from your soul, it’s time to move on. The same goes with people. And I wouldn’t be a proper minimalist if I didn’t say the same goes with “stuff”. To me, affiliate marking goes in the “stuff” column. It has taken enough of my mental space over the last few months.

So to quote the great Kenny Powers: “Affiliate marketing, you’re fuckin’ out.”

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Reader Interactions

Comments

LOL amen to that! I’ve been blogging for five years and have yet to crack the affiliate code. I get so many requests from affiliate advertisers now saying THEY are the ones who will help me, and it turns out I make a whopping $4 per month. 🙂 I think it’s either something worth pursuing with gusto, or not at all. Go with what makes you feel good about your blog!

Thanks, Tonya! I feel like there’s definitely a sleazy side to blogging. There’s so many of us out there that are looking to make some extra cash. The money making side of it is misleading for sure.
On the flip side of that, now that I’ve found blogging and am taking it seriously, I’m loving it. Posting every Sunday is usually the highlight of my week.

I love this post! I totally agree with your take. I’m not sure I’m ready to pull the plug on affiliate links yet (I’m a few months behind you, so give me time), but I have definitely stopped caring about them.

I’ve also discovered the desire to blog about blogging, but have tried to limit those posts. Takes away from what my message is.

Interesting take on a controversial topic for sure. To affiliate or to not affiliate, that is the question. For me, I don’t think my traffic is high enough yet to jump in the deep end, but I have dabbled. I’m not sure yet. I do agree that ads are easier – though income from them requires lots of traffic as well. Thanks for sharing.

Thanks for checking it out!
While traffic is the answer to all the blogging riddles, I’ve found that it’s the quality of traffic that I care about the most. I’d rather have five comments on each post than five bucks in my paypal account.

I occasionally throw in an affiliate link, but I don’t expect any takers and haven’t gotten any.. Why? Usually I get my ideas for a post from some book I’m reading, so it gets a shout out with an affiliate link. Not even a review is usually included. If someone wants to buy it I’ve made it easier, but I’d hope my audience would just go to a library or used book store. Selling via the blog takes away from the message imho, especially when my message is only buy what you value.

Amen brother. We decided early on not to bother with affiliate links, and while that might change in the future, for now I feel good about the decision. It frees us from awkward ethical questions and the time suck of dealing with them. You’ve made me feel vindicated.
We haven’t tried ads yet, but I’m much more comfortable with the idea. Would love to pick your brain some time about how the ads affect We’re All Poor Here.
The only money-maker we have right now is a PayPal donation button… and I’m frankly SHOCKED to say that it has actually brought in money! Enough to cover our hosting fees anyway. So maybe look into it?

That’s a very good idea. I had not thought about it putting up a donation button. You ladies probably have a lot more traffic than I do, so the ad revenue may be small but sometimes something is better than nothing.

I’m all new to this and it’s good to see an honest post to help me avoid wasting time on something that may not be worthwhile to a new blogger starting out. Congratulations on nearly hitting the six month mark. I know oh so well the temptation to quit. I’ve only been going two months and there is the constant thoughts of “what’s the point, no ones reading this”. Six months is my new target – thanks for the inspiration!!

Each blog is bound to be different, but I’m leaning towards avoiding affiliate sales like you have. I feel like personal finance is one of the harder things to be able to make sales off of – the whole point is to save your money! Or buy thrifty! Or at least buy smart.

I enjoyed this post. I signed up for Amazon Affiliates as well but, as a personal finance blogger, linking to Amazon products really doesn’t seem apt (if I were blogging about makeup or natural products, it would be another story). Thus, it’s expiring and they won’t let me maintain my registration unless I make a sale by a certain date.

Additionally, I’ve been contacted by a handful of people who want to pay for a post advertising payday loan sites, and one individual looking to purchase a post about how great it is to invest in penny stocks (and linking to their site, of course). Eeek…no thanks!

Affiliate links have been sprinkled throughout my blog since day one, and six months or so later, I haven’t had a drop of income from them.

Personally I don’t have high hopes for monetization. It seems like the bloggers who find success with it do so at least somewhat at the expense of their credibility, and their readership is probably a bit more on the gullible and undiscerning side. Just as in offline life, digital salespeople are often sleazy.

Yes! Totally agree. I stopped as well. I started writing books instead. Its not making much but it gives people an opportunity to purchase something from me instead of trying to sell someone else’s product. That is not my style. If you are good at selling, by all means. It is all about finding an approach that fits your personality.